Street hockey ban lifted on Oakville streets

There’ll soon be more exuberant screams of ‘scores’ and ‘nothing but net’ on Oakville streets.

Town Council has approved removing a ban on general sports activities on Oakville roads.

By a tight eight-to-six margin, the Council voted to lift the general prohibition on sports activities within the Municipal Right of Way (MRW), but in a limited way.

Activities like street hockey, basketball, skateboarding, and other sports activities will be allowed during certain times of the day on certain streets.

“Let’s get kids out on the streets. Fewer video games and that,” said Ward 1 Councillor Jonathan McNeice, who voted for the motion.

Asked to explore options for lifting the ban in some capacity at a meeting back on November 22, 2022, the Town Staff, in keeping with Uniform Traffic By-laws and the Municipal Right-of-Way By-Law, recommended that the prohibition should remain.

Staff pointed to reasons outlined in a previous 2017 report. Valid they say are still concerns over conflict between motorists/pedestrians, and sports creating a hazard. Sports equipment on roads are obstructions and encroachments.

The activities within the municipal right of way can also lead to noise and nuisances, disputes, property damage, and obstructions to municipal services such as snow removal.

“The key principals being that roads and sidewalks are for the movement of people in vehicles, and that sports activities are best suited for parks, playing fields, community centres, and similar locations,” read Staff member Lilly Lei of why they recommended for the ban to remain.”

The three options Staff offered Council to deal with the matter were the same as back in the 2017 report when no changes were made.

One option was to lift the general prohibitions and leave it to common sense and the judgement of those who wish to play sports in the MRW to do so wisely.

A second option offered to lift the general prohibitions in a limited fashion providing direction to staff as to what limits the Town Council wishes to see imposed, i.e. sports type, street type, time of day, etc.

The third was to lift the general prohibition per the second option and include a guide to those playing the type of sports permitted.

“I think it’s important that we find a limited framework that would support active use,” said Ward 3 Town and Regional Councillor Janet Haslett-Theall. “My concern with the reactive part is not all the standard safety, you’re obstructing the road.

“Of course, all those should remain in place, but we should put some framework around play occurs no later than a certain time which you see in Gatineau and a couple of the others.”

After heading into a closed session to discuss potential liabilities with opening play, Haslett-Theall would put forward the second option as a motion, which included an amendment by Ward 5 Councillor Jeff Knoll that was done at the player’s own risk.

“That we lift the general prohibition on sports activities within the MRW in a limited fashion to allow sports activities on only specific types of roads at certain times of day to be determined at the player’s own risk through a staff report that informs us on best practices in other jurisdictions,” she said in her motion.

Knoll was on board.

“I strongly support that initiative,” he said.

Opening up play would also be good for the mental health of the kids, said Ward 7 Councillor Nav Nanda, who would also vote to lift the ban.

“We as parents are trying to get our kids off devices,” she said. “I feel like we don’t want to prohibit,” she continued.

Ward 3 Councillor Dave Gittings asked Town Staff how many complaints had been made about sports activities on the road.

A total of 41 complaints have already been made this year, surpassing the 29 made last year. In 2022, Staff said due to COVID, there were 80.

“I guess my major concern is where do we expect these youth to go if they don’t have a schoolyard nearby,” said Gittings, who supported the motion. “I concur with a number of comments by council colleagues, I don’t know where these youth are going to go to stay outside and get a little bit of exercise.

“I think about a young John Tavares up in Clearview or a young Ray Chisholm out in Central Oakville when they were playing hockey. I bet they were playing a fair amount of road hockey.”

Oakville Mayor Rob Burton voted against lifting the ban, saying he sees an increased level of risk of some degree on the taxpayer.

“We’ve never prevented kids from playing,” he said. “We go around and ask people to move equipment out of the MRW when it is obstructive to the rest of the business of the town and I don’t see anything wrong with that.

“It’s my opinion, that lifting the general prohibition, even in a limited way, will increase to some degree the risk that falls on the rest of the taxpayers of the municipality and I don’t think that’s what we really need to do here when we’re not preventing kids from playing.”

Ward 4 Councillor Allan Elgar also voted against the motion.

“After reading the reports, we’re really in the business of prohibiting everything,” he said. “I agree with leaving it prohibited, however, I leave it to staff being reactive and not proactive.”

Haslett-Theall says it’s the right thing to do.

“Kids want to shoot hoops and most people that are fortunate enough to have a place to put the basketball net it’s at the bottom of their driveway,” she said. “Making it so you’re welcome to participate and shoot hoops is a good thing.”